Sleeping with the Enemy
by Sophia Hawkins
Summary: Kelly Severide noticed that Matt Casey's behavior had become erratic; he was withdrawn, defensive, secretive, he had new injuries he was hiding from everyone. Kelly knew that something was wrong but he could never guess how bad the situation really was.
1. Chapter 1

Sleeping with the Enemy

Kelly had just left his apartment and was getting in his car when his phone rang. It was Casey.

"Hey, I'm on the way over to get you," he said for an answer.

"Actually that's why I'm calling," Casey's voice was hesitant. "I can't make it tonight, something's come up. Sorry, Kelly."

Severide would be lying if he said he wasn't disappointed, the two of them were going to go out to a club in Canaryville to try and pick up women, they'd been planning on it all week. Casey genuinely sounded down about this revelation.

Kelly didn't let on and said dismissively, "It's okay, we'll go another night. What's up?"

"My sister had to go out of town and my niece is home sick, so I'm watching her until Christie gets back."

"Sorry to hear that, I hope it's nothing serious."

"Just the flu, but she's definitely miserable," Casey answered.

"That sucks...I hope she feels better soon."

"Yeah," Casey replied hesitantly.

"Well, I'll see you next shift," Kelly said.

"Right...well, bye, Kelly."

"Bye."

Kelly disconnected the call and sat in the driver's seat for a minute considering his options. He could go on to the club by himself, then they could both go again another time. But, for some reason he wasn't really in the mood anymore. He could go to Molly's and mingle with the others, but he wasn't in the mood for that either, but he also didn't feel like staying home all night. Finally he decided he'd go to one of the other bars he used to frequent before Molly's got off the ground.

The place he picked was a 10 minute longer drive than to Molly's, but traffic was backed up so it took him half an hour longer to get there than usual. Finding a place to park was almost impossible, he'd never admit it in front of Herrmann and Otis, but the places he used to go to could generate two to three times the foot traffic that Molly's did on its best night. He went to Molly's to support his friends and he liked the company, but nights he was actually trying to meet someone, he generally took his business elsewhere where there was a lesser chance of one of the bartenders also trying to hook up with one of the women he bumped into.

He finally found a parking spot at the end of the block and walked back towards the bar, the lights were bright and even through the closed doors the music could be heard loud and clear. The door swung open and a few people who were already nearing their limit stumbled out laughing and grabbing onto one another as they headed for their cars. Kelly glanced back, thinking he recognized one of them, but they were gone before he could make that determination. He turned back towards the door and just grabbed the handle to go in, and he stopped dead in his tracks.

Through the crowd of people who were drinking and dancing, Kelly was able to see the patrons seated at the bar more towards the back of the room. Two men were perched on the bar stools, each half turned facing each other as they drank a couple of beers and talked. Matt Casey was one of those men. As shocking as this was, and Severide's brain was already turning to mush trying to make any sense of this, what really stunned him was who the other man was Casey was talking to.

It was Sergeant Hank Voight.

Kelly felt like his mind had just exploded as he blankly stared through the glass door at his best friend, talking to the cop that tried to have him killed years ago. That was in the past and since then a working relationship between 51 and Intelligence had been established though to _nobody's_ liking, but it had been months since they'd had to help Voight with a case for anything. There sure as hell wasn't anything going on currently that warranted the two sides joining forces again, and besides, this didn't look like any 'business' meeting between them. He could only see Casey's profile, but the man actually seemed to be enjoying the company of the cop as they had a couple of drinks. The world and everything about it that made any kind of sense just fell away as Kelly stood there watching them.

Severide didn't have any idea how long he stayed that way, it seemed to be forever, but finally the only thing prompting him to move was the fact a couple were leaving the bar and just about opened the door on his face. He took a step back and after they had headed to the parking lot, he looked in the door again, and was just in shock at Casey's demeanor. He seemed to be having a good time, he couldn't make out anything they were saying but he could see the crinkled lines around Casey's eye as he seemed to be laughing at something as he and Voight talked.

At any other time Severide would march into the bar and demand to know what the hell was going on, but right now his brain couldn't function properly to save his life. Not only was he currently beyond any words, his brain couldn't even control his body's actions enough to actually do anything. When he finally tried taking a step, it was backwards.

He wasn't even sure how he got back home to his apartment that night. He spent the night and the next day going over in his head Casey's phone call, and the contrast to that story and what he'd actually witnessed at the bar. Try as he might, Severide couldn't come up with a single logical explanation for it. And he knew he should just confront Casey about it and get to the bottom of things, but that was one conversation he had no idea how the hell to even bring it up. He decided to wait until they were on next shift and talk to Casey about it before he mentioned it to anyone else.

* * *

Casey was on at next shift, but his entire demeanor had changed from the last time Kelly saw him, or for that matter _any_ time Kelly had ever seen him. He was shifty and wouldn't hold still for very long and wouldn't make eye contact with anybody and didn't say much to anyone in particular. Everybody else at 51 seemed oblivious to all of this, Severide was the only one who'd noticed, but he had no idea what it could be related to or how to bring it up, and the calls started coming in early so he didn't have long to dwell on it.

On the job Casey was just as efficient as ever, though every so often Severide did notice a distant look in his eyes, though they, like the rest of his body, seemed to be moving about as much as possible without drawing obvious attention to himself.

After the third call, everybody came back in dire need of a shower and a change of clothes, Casey had been the second to last one in the locker room. Kelly had been heading in just as Casey was stepping out of the shower, and in that split second the two faced each other and Kelly got one large clue as to Casey's unusual behavior. The blackish purple bruise he sported on the left side of his face trailed far above and below the area surrounding his eye, and the color was already changing, meaning it wasn't something that had just happened, but very likely was at least a couple of days old. Which meant that Casey had tried to cover it up with makeup so nobody else would notice. Now Kelly knew why he'd dragged his feet on getting cleaned up. He also noticed, almost as an afterthought, several other bruises on Casey's chest and shoulders and back. Those had been covered by his shirt, and the patterns were vague enough they probably could've passed for job-related, but not the one taking up one whole side of his face.

The first thing that occurred to him to say was, "Whoa, what happened to you?"

"It's nothing," Casey said defensively as he subconsciously raised a hand to his face to try and shield the worst of it from Severide's view.

"Your niece do that?" Severide asked, wondering if Casey even remembered the lie he'd told Severide 2 nights ago.

"Oh...no, it's really nothing."

"Casey-"

"You're not the only hothead around here who gets into bar fights, Severide," Casey snapped at him. After that outburst he seemed to calm down a little and added, "I didn't want everyone asking questions, can we please drop it?"

"I'm pretty sure they're gonna know now," Kelly pointed out.

"No they're not," Casey walked over to his locker, opened it up and took out a tube of foundation concealer. Kelly wasn't even sure how to bring up the question how and where Casey got the idea to put makeup on his black eye, let alone for that matter how to find the right shade.

"Casey..." Kelly still couldn't get his brain to wire together the questions that had been building in his head for 2 days. "Are you in some kind of trouble?"

"No," Casey answered a little too quickly. "Let's just drop it, okay?"

That was actually the last thing Kelly wanted to do or planned to do, but he knew he couldn't force Casey to talk about anything he didn't want to, and he wouldn't get anywhere by trying.

"Okay," he conceded for now, "but if you are, you know you can come to me, right?"

Casey nodded grimly. "I know."

And yet somehow Kelly still knew he wouldn't. And now he was especially curious to find out what the hell was going on, but he also had no idea how to find that out.

"So how _is_ your niece?" Kelly asked.

Casey looked back at him, a slight expression of confusion, quickly replaced with a self assured look as he answered, "She's doing fine now."

"Good...glad to hear it."

* * *

That night when things had quieted down for a while, everybody took advantage of the lack of calls coming in and hit the bunk room to get some rest until the bells went off again. Kelly stopped by Casey's quarters but he wasn't there, so he searched the rooms one by one, and didn't find Casey anywhere. Starting to run out of ideas but not wanting to get the rest of 51 involved in what was going on until he had no other alternatives, Kelly stepped outside. The night was cold and just about pitch black save for the street lamps. Over the wind blowing he was able to make out Casey's voice and followed it around the corner of the station house. He was able to make out Casey pacing around in circles as he talked on his cell phone.

"I need to see you," Casey told whoever was on the other end of the line. "No! I can't talk about it on the phone, when can I see you?" Casey was visibly and audibly getting worked up nearing a point of frenzy or panic. He was all but hyperventilating as he said to whoever he was talking to, "We go off shift in 7 hours, I'll be able to get there after that...no, no one knows. I swear I haven't told anyone anything..." Casey started to calm down as he told the other person, "Okay...okay...I'll see you then. I really appreciate this."

Kelly quietly backed away and made his way back into the station house and headed for his quarters figuring Casey wouldn't be far behind. But five minutes passed, then ten, and Casey never came, and Severide got curious so he went looking again. This time he found Casey in the common room sitting on the couch watching the TV with the volume cranked down so it didn't wake everybody up.

"Hey," Kelly quietly announced as he entered the room, acting like he was only half awake. "What're you doing up?"

"Just couldn't sleep," Casey insisted as he shook his head.

"Want some company?" Kelly asked.

"Nah, go back to sleep, I'm good," Casey said as he flipped through the channels.

"I don't mind," Kelly yawned as he sat down beside Matt. "You okay?"

"Fine," he answered tiredly and shortly.

Kelly paused, and asked, "How'd you really get that black eye?"

"I told you, I got in a bar fight."

"So why'd you hide it from everyone?"

"I didn't want Boden riding my case about my 'behavioral issues'," Casey insisted.

Kelly just nodded, and thought.

"You want to come over tomorrow after shift?"

"Can't, I have a doctor's appointment," Casey answered.

Kelly eyed him suspiciously, "For what?"

"Eye doctor," Casey pointed to the same eye that had a nice purple shiner around it that was currently hidden behind another layer of foundation, "I got something in it during that last call."

Kelly turned and looked him in the eyes. "Don't see anything."

"Well it hurts."

"Sure it's not from being punched?" Kelly inquired.

"_No_."

"Well I'm sure sitting up all night's not going to help it," Severide told him.

Casey was clearly agitated and replied shortly, "Go to bed, Kelly...I'll be along later."

Somehow Kelly doubted that as well, but he knew he wasn't going to get anywhere, so he reluctantly got up from the couch and headed back to his quarters.


	2. Chapter 2

A day later, Severide still had no idea what to make of anything that had taken place, and it was still way too confusing for him to even think about bringing anybody else in on. He'd tried talking to Casey, called several times over the course of the day, and never heard back from him. The day passed slowly and excruciatingly. Kelly passed the day trying to think what possible explanation there could be for Casey lying to him about where he'd been, and going to talk to Voight of all people. If it was something 51 had to help Intelligence with again, they all would've been brought in on it, the fact that Voight only seemed to bring Casey in on whatever it was didn't set well with Severide, but for the life of him he couldn't come up with any answer that made sense.

That night, Kelly tried calling Casey again, and it just went to voicemail again. He decided he'd head over to Casey's apartment and talk to him face to face, hoping he could start getting some answers about what was going on.

Casey's truck was parked at the curb, for that matter so were several other vehicles, so Kelly had to park around the corner. He walked around to the front of the building, went up the steps and knocked on the door. There was no response. He put his ear to the door, there was no sound coming from inside the apartment either. Where the hell was Casey? Kelly sighed in defeat as he headed down the stairs and walked back towards his truck. Just as he was turning the corner, a set of oncoming headlights lit up the street, he turned and the beams blinded him and he had to step back and shield his eyes to make out a black car that stopped in the lane beside the parked cars. The passenger side door opened and the lights came on inside the car, and Kelly felt himself falling down the rabbit hole again. It was Voight's car and Casey was in the passenger seat. The two of them were talking about something but couldn't be heard over the noise of the engine sitting idle. Casey moved to get out, then turned back towards Voight and-

Kelly officially felt his brain exploding in his skull. Casey leaned over to the driver's seat and the two men embraced. Voight was saying something to Casey but Severide couldn't hear it, but whatever it was he could see Matt nodding his head in response before pulling away from the Intelligence sergeant. He got out of Voight's car and headed up to the front door and the black car pulled away and disappeared in the traffic. Casey unlocked his door, went in and shut it behind him, and Severide was left standing at the corner at a total loss for any explanation of what he'd just witnessed. Any previous thought about going up there and confronting Casey about what was going on just went out the window because at that moment he felt like a zombie barely even able to straggle along. He didn't even remember getting to his car, getting in his car, or how he got home that night, but he found himself back at his own apartment, pacing the living room floor, trying to make some sense of what he'd seen, and coming up empty on all counts.

Nothing was making any sense. Something had to be wrong somewhere. Correction, _everything_ had to be wrong. What the hell was going on, and why was Casey lying to him about what he was doing, and _why_ was he with Voight at those times that he was, and _what_, above all else Severide wanted to know _what_ the hell Casey was doing with Voight? That last thought alone painted a very disturbing image in Kelly's head he wished he could bleach out of his mind. No, no, no, definitely _not_, there was no way in hell that Casey could be...but then back to the original question what _were_ they doing and _what_ were they doing that Casey had to lie about where he was and who he was with?

Ever since they'd gotten off shift, Kelly had had a migraine that could've killed an elephant, this new revelation of events just made his headache even worse than before. He sat down on the couch and tried to look at this logically. He didn't have any idea where to start, because there was nothing logical about it.

He replayed the events of the last few days in his mind. First Casey calls and blows off their plans for the night. The same night, Severide sees him in a bar with Voight and the two seemed to be living it up, as if they were old friends. Two days later Casey comes on shift edgy and frantic and sporting a very large bruise on his face he went to great lengths to hide from everyone, wouldn't say one word about where it actually came from, or what had happened the other night. Then _that_ night he's outside the station on his phone with somebody insisting he has to see them, insisting he didn't tell anybody...tell anybody about what? And now this...they pull up in Voight's car and Casey _hugged_ the cop who made his life hell several years ago.

Kelly knew how it all looked, but he played the facts over in his mind that he knew to be true. Casey was straight. That was not debatable. He may not have had the best track record with women or longstanding relationships, but he was as straight as they came. And yet...the more Kelly looked at his behavior the last few days, the more he knew _what_ it looked like and he was having a progressively harder time coming up with any logical alternatives to what seemed most likely. Still it was just too far fetched to believe, Casey...and Hank Voight? No, it couldn't be, it just couldn't be, there was no way in hell that...and yet...unfortunately they'd had enough experience getting caught in domestic disputes on calls, that Kelly could recognize the signs for what they looked like.

As impossible as it was to believe and as sickening as it was to even entertain the thought of, the answer most likely was that Casey was in fact in some kind of _relationship_ with Voight...and if Kelly had to guess...a _violent_ relationship. And if it was true, and Kelly just about puked at the idea of it being true, but if it was, then it was no wonder Casey was so on edge. For one thing, he couldn't let _anybody_ at 51, or the 21st, or anywhere in between, find out about this. But secondly, if it was, then he had no way out. If he had somehow gotten involved with Voight and the cop was beating the hell out of him, Casey had no options, he couldn't report it, Voight's own people wouldn't believe him and wouldn't do anything about it, they all knew how he worked.

It still made no sense to Kelly but at the same time he couldn't come up with another explanation for what was going on. The whole thing was just a nightmare, and Kelly wasn't sure what the way out of it was. As tempted as he was to just fly off the handle and confront Casey about it all, he knew he couldn't. As much as he hated to, he knew he had to stand back and get something more concrete before he could accuse anybody of anything, but he wasn't sure if he'd be able to last that long. Clearly something was wrong, Casey was in some kind of trouble and didn't feel he had anybody he could turn to for help, but they'd butted heads on enough issues over the years Severide knew Matt would _not_ appreciate Kelly stampeding in like a raging bull and trying to take over the situation, no matter how good his intentions were. Kelly really felt himself stuck between that rock and hard place, he needed to help his friend but he didn't know how and he couldn't tell anyone else about it.

More questions started pouring into his head. If this was true, how did it happen? Surely Casey didn't just wake up one day and decide he wanted to be involved with a man, and especially not Voight of all people. But did that mean that he actually wasn't as straight as Severide and everybody else for that matter, just naturally assumed he was? He'd known Casey for nearly 20 years, he'd think in that amount of time he would've known if there were any...then again, what _would_ he know? Casey had been on his guard from the moment they met and he was very big on self preservation, he surely wouldn't let something like that slip out that could've very easily made his candidacy days more of a hell for him than they already were. In _theory_, all firehouses were supposed to be family, but they all knew from personal experience over the years that was _not_ the case and sometimes you wound up with some really shitty people to work under, for whom it wouldn't be anything to take somebody's most private details of their life and exploit it to everybody in the House for their own personal amusement. Everybody had taken fairly well to Leslie Shay's announcement that she was a lesbian, though Severide had still been convinced in the beginning he could change her mind, that was before he actually got to know her. But for one thing, Shay was a paramedic, for another she was a woman and even though in this day and age they were supposed to be so big on equal treatment, everybody knew the women on Ambo still got treated with slightly lighter gloves. One of the guys on their companies, it very likely would _not_ have been the same case, and Kelly knew it. No indeed if in fact Casey had any inklings about him that were not 100% heterosexual, he definitely would _not_ let anyone else at CFD be privy to that little detail, and Kelly couldn't blame him, if it were true. Those were the big questions, if it was all true, if this was correct, he had no way of knowing and wasn't sure what he was bound to find just by hanging back and watching to see what happened next, but unfortunately that was about all he could do for the time being. That, and, much as he was sure Casey would reject it, continue to offer his support to Matt for whatever was going on.

Suddenly another, even more sickening thought occurred to Kelly that hadn't previously entered into the equation. Maybe Casey wasn't a willing participant in this at all. None of them knew much about Voight's private life, they knew he had been married, he'd had a son, what did that prove? Maybe he in fact was coercing Casey into this, but why? Just to prove he still had the upper hand on the lieutenant and could destroy him in an instant? There was no doubt in anybody's mind that Voight was a sick bastard because over time everybody had seen first hand some of the stuff he was capable of doing, but could he actually be _that_ sick?

Kelly went to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee, with all the ideas running through his head, sleep was definitely not on the schedule for tonight.

* * *

Casey wasn't as wiry on the next shift, though he still tended to avoid eye contact with most people, and again, nobody but Severide seemed to notice. The two had a moment alone in the locker room as they were getting ready and Kelly asked him, "How's the eye?"

"Better," Casey said simply. "Few more days and nobody will know the difference."

"No I mean when you went to the eye doctor."

"Oh, right," Casey turned around. "Turns out what I had in it was a piece of steel."

"Holy crap."

"Got it out pretty easily. It hasn't hurt since then, but I still have to put medicated drops in twice a day."

"Where are they?" Kelly asked.

"In my bag, I don't want people asking questions about what happened."

"All the stuff that flies around during a fire, it's not so weird to get debris in your eye," Kelly pointed out.

"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not talk about it," Casey said.

"Okay, fine."

Kelly sighed to himself as he saw this conversation was off to a roaring stop. He wasn't sure where to go from here but he felt like if he didn't find a way to keep the ball rolling and get some answers, his head was going to explode. That image was still seared into his memory, Casey and Voight. There weren't even any words to begin on that one.

"Uh..." he tried to think of something to keep the conversation going, "I tried calling you last night, just got your voicemail."

"Oh, sorry about that," Casey responded, a bit too quickly.

Kelly paused, Casey didn't elaborate. "Were you out?"

"No," Casey answered. "I had a migraine, I shut off my phone and had an early night."

It was killing Severide not to flat out yell at Casey 'I know you're lying' but he knew he couldn't do that.

"You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah...I get headaches, Kelly."

"And you get into bar fights," he responded uncertainly.

Casey's eyes narrowed. "You trying to say something?"

"Just curious, maybe one has something to do with the other, you been to a doctor?"

"I'm fine, Kelly...just a little bruised."

"You're sure."

"Positive."

"Okay then," Kelly gave up. Casey wasn't going to tell him anything. "Uh, that rain check to go out still good? How about tomorrow night?"

Casey turned back towards him. "Sorry, I can't make it." Before Severide could say anything, he added, "I've got a construction job set up, gonna take as much daylight as I'll get tomorrow and then some."

"Need some help?" Kelly offered.

"No, thanks...it's fairly easy, just time consuming," Casey answered, not the boldest faced lie he'd ever told, but to anybody not paying enough attention, they would've bought it.

The frustration growing in Severide was just about to boil over, all he wanted to do was lash out and shake Casey and make him talk, but he couldn't. Whatever trouble Casey was in, Severide knew how important it was not to drive him away, which he knew was exactly what would happen if he handled the situation like he so desperately wanted to.

Casey had turned away from Kelly, Severide reached over and placed a hand on his shoulder, and Matt jumped with a pronounced yelp of shock.

"Sorry," Kelly drew his hand back. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Fine, I'm fine," Casey insisted. "Just surprised me."

Now that Kelly got another look at him, it looked like Casey hadn't slept at all last night, he was clearly on edge, something had him worried, and it took all Kelly's self restraint not to grab him and tell him everything was going to be okay, that he would help him figure out whatever was going on. Keeping what he knew to himself was killing him, but he wasn't going to risk Casey panicking and completely shutting him out, right now the door was definitely closed but there was a chance it'd open when the time was right. Kelly just wished he knew what it was.

* * *

Kelly opened his eyes. Things had been at a lull so he laid on his bunk to close his eyes for a minute, he checked the clock and realized he'd been out for half an hour. He got up, went over to Casey's quarters and saw the room was empty. He headed to the common room, everybody was there except Matt.

"Where's Casey?" he asked.

"He had to step out for a few minutes, he got it cleared with Boden," Herrmann answered.

And what the hell did that mean? Step out where, for what, and more importantly, to see whom? And why?

It was only 15 minutes before Casey returned, but to Severide it felt like he waited an hour. He was on the apparatus floor when Casey finally got back, and he noticed Matt looked even more frazzled now than he had earlier.

"Casey-"

"I'm _fine_, Severide," Casey snapped as he passed by the Squad lieutenant, "just _drop_ it."

Even though Kelly knew Casey's aggravation was just a front to cover what was really going on with him, his lashing out was barbed enough Severide actually felt shaken to the bones. All the same he turned and followed after Casey, who ducked into the locker room.

"Casey, what's going on? What hap-" Kelly suddenly forgot what he was saying when he got a glimpse at Casey leaning against his locker, visibly upset, his breathing shaky and he looked on the verge of tears.

All of that took a backseat to the rage that Casey was now exhibiting as he glared daggers at Severide and yelled at him, "Dammit Severide, drop it already and _leave me alone_!"

Kelly didn't remember the next thing he said, or did, but whatever it was, Casey took it as a threat enough to warrant punching Kelly in the face, which knocked him back against another row of lockers.

The commotion that ensued brought everybody running to see what was going on, and quickly moved to pull the two lieutenants off of each other.

"_What_ is going on here?" Boden demanded to know.

Kelly had found himself practically in a choke hold by half the guys from 51, the other half containing Casey so they were in mutual corners, he looked over at Casey, on the surface there was a fire in his eyes, but under the surface Kelly could recognize the sheer terror. Whatever was going on, Casey was scared out of his mind and that's why he was trying to get Severide off his case.

"Nothing," he insisted, "just a little misunderstanding...won't happen again, Chief, I swear."

Wallace grimly nodded and responded, "For both your sakes, I hope so."

One by one everybody let go of the two men and walked out of the locker room to leave it to them to sort out. Casey's response was to storm out without a word.

Kelly stayed behind and took a minute to think about everything. He felt like he was losing his mind. And before they had him committed, he decided he was going to get to the bottom of this himself, and he was going to get the answers at any cost, and when they got off shift, he was going to get them straight from the source.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Last chapter, thanks to everybody for reading and reviewing, I'm glad you've enjoyed it!

Kelly beat on the front door so hard he thought he was going to bust his knuckles, but he didn't care, he kept pounding relentlessly until the porch light came on and he could hear the bolt being undone, and he saw Hank Voight's face as he pulled the door back.

"Are you fucking Casey?" was the first accusation out of Severide's mouth.

The suddenness and spontaneity of the question clearly caught the Intelligence sergeant off guard and after a brief pause the only thing he could get out with a very confused and wide eyed express was an equally confused, "Ex-cuse me?"

"I _saw_ you two together, Voight, what the hell did you do to him?" Kelly demanded to know as he forced his way into Voight's home.

Voight largely maintained his normal unreadable expression, and a strangely restrained tone as he told Kelly, "You are _way_ off, Severide."

"I don't know how you got your hooks into him but if you don't leave him alone, I'm gonna kill you," Kelly said point blank.

Voight's eyes were the only part of his stone face that changed in expression at Severide's threat, his only verbal response was a somewhat amused, "Oh really?"

"I saw what you did to his face, you touch him again, I'm gonna _bury_ you," Kelly was practically on top of the cop.

There was nothing in the sergeant's face that gave away what was going through his head, but he turned and called out, "Matt, come on out here."

Kelly heard a door open and turned and saw Casey step out from another room, looking defensive.

"Severide, what the _hell_ are you doing here?" Casey demanded to know.

Kelly felt his eyes double in size in disbelief. "What the hell am _I_ doing here?"

The two lieutenants got in each other's faces and started yelling at each other and very few words could actually be deciphered from the tirade. Voight raised his voice to be heard over both of them and told them, "Alright, both of you shut up!" Somehow that did the trick and both men suddenly got quiet.

"Matt, show him," Voight told Casey.

Kelly looked from Voight to Casey, completely clueless about what he meant. Casey just stared at Kelly, a blank look of discontent on his face.

"Show him!" Voight repeated.

Reluctantly, Casey opened his jacket, and his shirt, revealing a wire strapped to his chest.

Once again, Severide had that same feeling that his brain was about to explode.

"Casey, what's going on?"

Casey sighed and answered, "Somebody threatened Christie's life and tried to kill me."

Kelly's mind went completely blank and he could barely even talk.

"Wait, what? Wha-huh?"

Voight took a step towards Casey and spoke in the general direction of the microphone, "Take five, Jay, ears off."

Casey re-buttoned his shirt and shut his jacket.

"Casey, what do you mean? What happened?" Kelly asked.

Casey sighed painfully and explained, "Christie called me a week ago, said some guy had come around threatening her, I went to her house..."

"Then he called me," Voight added. He pointed to the still purple bruise on Matt's face and told Kelly, "He was already like that when we got there, half conscious on the floor bleeding."

* * *

_Matt was faintly aware of his sister's panicked screams, but they sounded far away. The guy that had just beaten him bloody was gone, at least Casey thought he was gone. He tried to get up but his body wouldn't cooperate. He rolled over onto his stomach and crawled over towards Christie, tried to ask if she was alright, but the words wouldn't come._

_"Oh my God, Matt!" his sister screamed as she knelt down beside him._

_Casey fumbled for his pocket and took out his phone and tried dialing a number._

_"Matt, what're you doing?"_

_"-Help," he tried to answer as he put the phone on speaker._

_He'd thought he'd dialed Antonio's number, instead he heard a gruffer voice answer, "Voight."_

_Casey didn't have time to worry about that, they both worked in the same unit, one would likely bring the other anyway._

_"This is Matt Casey...I need somebody at..." his head was throbbing and he couldn't remember Christie's address. He held the phone up to her and told her, "Tell h'm where we are," and he slumped back against the floor._

_The next thing Casey was aware of was somebody calling his name. He tried opening his eyes, everything was blurry, he tried again, Voight's face started to come into focus. Somewhere around him he heard other voices and he was gradually able to make out the images of Jay Halstead and Antonio Dawson in the background talking to Christie._

_"Can you hear me, Casey?"_

_Matt groaned as he tried to answer._

_"Do you know where you are?"_

_He forced his head to nod, just slightly._

_"How many fingers you see?"_

_Casey squinted his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing double and croaked out, "Two."_

_"Come on, let's get you up," he felt Voight's hand squeezing his and felt himself being pulled off the floor. "We'll get you to the hospital and have the docs take a look at you."_

_Casey shook his head, every movement felt like a pickax right between the eyes. "No, no doctor, no hospital."_

_"Matt," he could hear Christie's voice but didn't see her yet._

_"I'm fine," Casey grunted as he got to his feet. _

_"What happened?" Voight asked._

_Casey tried to answer but he felt like the floor dropped out from under him and he collapsed face first into the carpet._

_When he came to, he was on a table in an exam room somewhere, a doctor was hovered over him checking him over, Voight stood by the wall._

_"So what's the damage?" Voight asked._

_"Nothing that won't heal in a couple weeks," the doctor said, and told Casey, "All the same before you go I'll get you a prescription for some painkillers."_

_"So let's try this again," Voight walked over to the table and asked Casey, "What happened?"_

* * *

"Turns out that her ex-husband was an associate who owed them some money," Casey said. "Somehow he got the impression Christie was holding onto it, threatened to kill her _and_ her daughter if she didn't get it to him."

"My God," Kelly barely got above a whisper.

Casey pointed to Hank and went on, "Voight moved them out and to a safe house, had the whole house searched, didn't find anything."

"And you?" Kelly asked.

"The guy's name is Frank Jacoby, a link in a chain of criminals that narcotics, the gang unit _and_ Intelligence have been trying to bust for months," Voight told him. "Casey's been stringing him along about getting the money, we're setting up a meet tonight where he's going to get Jacoby to incriminate himself, because the money he's after was supposed to be his cut from a drug ring, but somebody somewhere cheated him, put the blame on Casey's brother-in-law."

"_Ex_ brother-in-law," Casey corrected.

"_Now_ you get the picture?" Voight asked Kelly.

It was obvious from the look on Severide's face that it wasn't that simple.

"I don't get it, I saw you two..." he turned to Casey, "the night you called me, you said your sister was out of town-"

"Eight hours after he got his face bashed in by Jacoby," Voight clarified.

"In the middle of everything I remembered I was supposed to meet you, figured it was a good way to buy some time while the commotion died down," Casey explained.

"But I saw you, at the bar," Kelly looked at Matt, then Voight, and back at Casey again, "I saw you two together-"

The expression on Casey's face changed to one of confusion, "You were there?"

"I was at the door and I saw you two. You looked..." he couldn't even finish that sentence.

There was the slightest hint of an amused smirk on Voight's face as he told Kelly, "Figured after the day he'd had, he could use a drink, and loud bars are still one of the last places anybody pays attention to what two people are saying."

"We were going over the details of how this was going to work," Casey said.

Kelly replayed the events of that night over in his mind again. Remembering it now, he only saw Casey from the profile and it was the opposite side from where he'd been hit, so that explained that much anyway. But he also remembered the look on Matt's face as he spoke with the cop, smiling and laughing, and Severide had a hard time lining that up with the explanation they'd just given.

"Kelly?"

Severide realized Casey was talking to him but he hadn't heard a word the Truck lieutenant said.

"What were you two talking about?" he saw his best friend and the Intelligence cop look at each other like Severide was crazy, and he elaborated, "you two were laughing about something, what was is?"

* * *

_"How's the eye?" Voight asked as they got their drinks._

_"Hurts," Casey answered, and turned to the side, "how's it look?"_

_"Like it hurts," Voight answered._

_Casey grumbled as he picked up his bottle and replied, "Nothing a dozen more of these won't fix."_

_"Amen."_

_"So...you really think you can nail this guy?" Casey asked._

_"I know we can, with your help," Voight answered._

_"And once he's arrested, what then? What's he looking at? Is there a chance he'll just get probation or something like that? If he comes near anyone in my family again-"_

_"You play your cards right, I guarantee you, he won't see the light of day again," Voight told Matt._

_That made him smile, though it hurt his face to do so. "Good."_

_"So you figured out what you're gonna tell everyone at 51? I'm assuming you're going in next shift?"_

_Casey nodded. "Hadn't really thought about it yet."_

_"Might talk to Erin, she might be able to help," Voight suggested._

_"With what?"_

_"We both know it'd be easier if the subject doesn't come up at all," Voight pointed out. "She can probably help you cover it up."_

_Casey raised an eyebrow, "You mean makeup? I don't think-"_

_"Don't knock it. One time Halstead comes in with his whole jaw black and blue, because the woman he spent the night with sucker punched him in her sleep. He hadn't bothered to find out she was a boxer."_

_Casey laughed._

_"Erin goes into the locker room with him, ten minutes later he comes out, face looks normal again." Voight shrugged and told him, "Your choice."_

_Casey thought about it, feeling gleefully delirious either from the pills the doctor gave him or how much he'd already had to drink to try numbing the pain. "Would be easier if I didn't have to explain this to everyone."_

_"Or you could say you took a boxer home and she clocked you in your sleep," Voight replied._

_Casey busted out laughing._

* * *

"Think about it, Kelly," Casey said as he gestured to his face, "we've known each other for almost 20 years, do you _really_ think I know _anything_ about makeup?"

"Good point," Kelly said with a sigh of defeat. Then he thought of something else, and asked, "Who were you on the phone with that night on the next shift?"

Once again, Voight and Casey shared a mutual look of confusion.

"When everybody else was in the bunk room, you went outside."

"You followed me?" Casey asked.

"I was looking for you," Kelly answered. "When you were on the phone saying 'I need to see you, where are you?', something about you hadn't told anyone, were you talking to Voight?"

The two looked at each other again and a sudden choked laugh caught in Casey's throat as he connected the dots. He turned back to Kelly and answered in an amused tone, "No, that was Christie. I wanted to see her to catch her up on what was going on so she wasn't just in the dark. She was freaking out thinking I'd told somebody where she was."

"One other thing," Kelly responded. The one that he couldn't let go of, he just had to know. "Casey, I stopped by your apartment a couple nights ago because you weren't answering."

"My phone was off, Voight gave me a burner to contact Jacoby with and that's the one I kept on at all times," Casey answered.

"But I saw you pull up in Voight's car...I saw..."

Casey's eyes widened as he must've figured out what Kelly was talking about, and Severide noticed a flushed hue rising in his cheeks and didn't fail to notice the Truck lieutenant's eyes looking to the side.

"What was that about?" Kelly asked.

"He had a meeting with Jacoby that night, my guys picked him up, he came back to the 21st, we collected the wire, I brought him back," Voight answered.

"But what..." Kelly glanced over at Casey, who still wasn't making eye contact with him. "What happened in the car?"

* * *

_"You did good tonight," Voight told Casey during the drive back to his apartment. "We'll get the money together, in a couple days we'll set up the bust."_

_"Hm," Casey grunted as he looked out the window._

_Voight looked over at the fireman and told him, "I appreciate how hard this is for you, Matt."_

_"I don't think you do," Casey replied distantly._

_Voight paused for a minute, then inquired, "Taking you back?"_

_Casey turned his head, "To what?"_

_"Jack Nesbitt, Katya."_

_Casey was shaking his head._

_"You been sleeping lately?" Voight asked._

_"The first couple nights...after that those pills the doctor gave me made me wired...I haven't been able to sleep for two days...I feel weird, I feel..."_

_"What?"_

_"It's stupid."_

_"Try me."_

_"What is it they say when you're on meds? It lowers your defenses...I remember my mom having periods where she just started crying for no apparent reason, my dad was always telling at her about being so emotional...now I feel like my mom, like I'm going to fall apart at any minute."_

_"You stop taking the pills?" Voight asked._

_"Yeah but it hasn't been long enough to get them out of my system yet," Casey answered, "turns out they have a long half life."_

_Casey shook his head as he looked out the window at the scenery passing them in the night, "It can't happen again."_

_"Matt-"_

_"I can't have my sister murdered like Katya."_

_"Listen to me, Matt, we're gonna get everybody out of this alright, okay?" Voight said. "But you need to stay focused."_

_Voight watched Casey and saw how hard his chest was rising and falling with the heavy breaths he was taking. This really __was__ taking him back to the whole Jack Nesbitt ordeal._

_"It's gonna be alright," Voight told him. "We got someone watching your sister, we got a tail on you, if Jacoby or his people try __anything__, we will know it immediately."_

_Casey nodded but still didn't seem too assured. _

_"Here we are," Voight said as he pulled up outside Casey's apartment. He turned to face the lieutenant and told him, "We're going to nail this bastard, Casey, just don't start losing it now."_

_Casey nodded again,"I know, I know...I'll be ready."_

_He reached for the door and slightly pushed it ajar as he asked, "What happens if he comes looking for me before you're ready?"_

_"Like I said, we got someone watching you at all times, we'll know it," Voight said, "and as soon as we do we'll move in."_

_"Okay...okay," Casey pushed the door open and turned to get out...then suddenly he turned back, reached across the front seat and hugged Voight, much to the sergeant's surprise._

_"Thank you," Casey barely got out. "Thanks for helping me, Voight."_

_In those few words Hank could __feel__ the paralyzing amount of fear that had bottled up in Casey over the last few days since this whole mess started._

_"Hey, hey," Voight calmly said as he clapped a hand on Casey's back, "it's gonna be okay, trust me."_

_Casey tiredly nodded, and pulled back, and as soon as he did Voight saw the look of embarrassment on Matt's face at what he'd just done._

_"Go home, get some sleep, I'll call you tomorrow with the next part of the plan," Voight told him._

_Matt nodded and turned and got out of the car._

* * *

Casey had directed his eyes towards the floor and wouldn't look at Kelly. This revelation made Severide feel like he'd been punched in the gut.

"Casey," he took a step towards his friend, who in turn sidestepped him entirely like he was vermin.

"We have to go," he said dismissively, still not looking at him.

"And you're staying _out_ of this," Voight told Kelly.

Kelly merely nodded in agreement, he looked over at Casey who still wouldn't even look in his direction. Now he really felt like an idiot.

"I'm sorry...I didn't know..." he decided it was in his best interest to leave immediately, and showed himself the door.

Once he was gone, Voight turned to the Truck lieutenant who looked like he wanted to crawl out of his skin and under a rock somewhere, and asked point blank, "Am I _what_?"

Casey groaned as he cupped his hands over his face. "Voight, I am embarrassed to death about this."

"Don't worry about it, we gotta get going," Voight told him. Though as the two left Voight's home and headed to the car, Casey heard a small 'huh' sound come from the sergeant, followed by another, followed by a series of amused laughs as Severide's accusation came to mind again. Casey just groaned and shook his head.

* * *

There was a knock at Casey's door. He crossed through the living room and opened it and saw Severide standing on the other side, a humbled look on his face.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

Casey had no verbal response, he just gestured for Kelly to come on in. As Kelly entered he noticed the bruise covering Casey's face had turned a subtle green by now, meaning a few more days and it should be healed. He guessed it made sense in the privacy of his own home he'd forgo trying to cover it up.

It was 24 hours since he'd marched into Voight's home and found out what was going on, by now he'd found out from Antonio that the bust had gone as planned and Frank Jacoby and his associates were all hauled in and awaiting their bail hearings. Kelly figured by now it was safe to try talking to Casey again.

"If you've come to apologize, I accept," Casey told him.

"You do?" Kelly asked in disbelief.

"I do," he replied with a small smile.

"I'm sorry, Casey, I feel like an idiot," he said.

"Well you should be," Casey said as he headed into the kitchen, and returned with two bottles of beer. "Kelly we have known each other for almost 20 years, how could you even _think_ of such a thing?"

"What was I supposed to think?" Kelly asked with a helpless shrug. "You blew me off and you were running off to see Voight, you come to work beat up and you won't tell me what happened."

"And from that you thought we were sleeping together?" Casey asked in disbelief.

"I said I'm sorry...why didn't you tell me what was going on?" Kelly wanted to know.

Casey shook his head. "I couldn't."

"As crazy as you were acting, you had to know I couldn't let it go," Kelly said.

"I didn't have any choice, I couldn't tell you the truth," Casey said.

"Why not?"

"Because I know you."

"Meaning what?"

"First, I couldn't have you going after this guy and ruin everything, two, I wasn't willing to take the chance of anybody else being in danger, three I couldn't be sure if you could be trusted to leave the rest of 51 out of this," Casey explained. "It was easier to make you think I was nuts than tell you what was really going on...but I sure as hell never thought you'd come up with anything so ridiculous as this."

Now it was Kelly's turn to wish he could crawl under a rock.

"After they busted Jacoby, and the others, and everything died down," Casey told him, "Voight was laughing his ass off at the whole thing. He also had an...interesting theory."

"What's that?" Kelly asked.

Casey was beaming from ear to ear, doing everything he could not to break down laughing as he answered, "That the reason you went off like you did is because you're jealous."

It took a few seconds for Kelly's brain to even register the words. "Jealous? Of what, of him?"

"Well...should we put it to a test?"

Casey closed the space between them and hugged Kelly, catching him completely off guard.

"What the hell?"

Casey laughed and responded, "Well, I thought about it once I got home last night, and the fact that you were willing to go over there and make such a jackass out of yourself and threaten Voight, you must've really been concerned...and I guess I can't stay mad at you for being worried."

"I was worried, I knew _something_ was wrong, I just never thought it could be anything like this," Kelly told him. "I'm sorry that you couldn't tell me."

"I _wanted_ to tell you," Casey said as he pulled away from Severide. "But I didn't want to put you in any danger. I knew you couldn't leave it alone but I just couldn't tell you what was going on."

Kelly nodded, "I understand, I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry I punched you," Casey admitted.

The two had a small laugh over that recollection. Casey grinned and told him, "Thank you for caring enough to be such an idiot."

"What I'm here for," Kelly said with a shrug.

"You realize Voight's never gonna let either of us live this down, right?" Casey asked.

The two shared another laugh at that comment. Kelly ducked his head and pressed his hand over his eyes in embarrassment as he remembered his behavior the other night.

"Though I suppose, in all fairness I should confess I _did_ in fact spend the night with him," Casey said with a straight face.

Kelly's eyes bulged and his jaw dropped, "_What_?"

Casey chuckled and told him, "I had too much to drink at the bar, and it interacted with the pills I took earlier. He took me back to his place and had his people go to my apartment and search it just to make sure none of Jacoby's people had gone there looking for the money...and while we're waiting to hear back from them, I pass out on his couch. Next thing I know it's morning and I got a hangover that's making my whole face throb. I have literally no recollection what happened between those two points, all I know is I wake up tangled up in this scratchy afghan and he's standing over me holding two coffee mugs, every word he says is making my bruises _pulsate_."

Kelly was just about to double over from laughing at his friend's expense. Casey maintained a steady voice but he was losing the ability to maintain a straight face as he said, "So apparently spending the night with Voight _is_ as painful and miserable as you'd think it is."

Severide fell back against the wall and slowly sank down to the floor, still laughing. It was only after a few minutes passed that he found the strength to get back to his feet.

"Seriously, Kelly, how could you _ever_ think...what would ever give you the idea...first of all, we've known each other long enough you should know I'm not gay. Secondly, if I was, do you _really_ think I'd be interested in Voight?" Casey wanted to know.

The two lieutenants looked at each other for a minute and as that mental image started to take form in both their minds, they both grimaced and cringed and got out matching comments of sounds of sheer disgust.

"Great, I'm _never_ gonna get that out of my head," Casey said.

"Your head? I'm never gonna get it out of my eyes!" Kelly replied.

"You have a sick imagination, Kelly, you know that?"

"I'm starting to find that out."

The moment passed and more seriously, Kelly asked, "How is your sister doing now?"

"She's good," Casey nodded, "She and her daughter are back home now, I think it's going to take a while for her to actually feel safe, but they're doing fine."

Kelly noticed Casey's bruised eye blinking more than the other and asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah, just need to put the eye drops in again," Casey said in an annoyed tone.

"Wait, that part was real?" Kelly asked.

Casey looked at him with a puzzled expression as he picked up the bottle off the table and told him, "Come on, Kelly, don't you think if I was lying I could've come up with something better than this? They cut that metal out from under my eye, I have to take these for the rest of the week for it to heal."

"You mean that really was from the call we were on?" Kelly asked.

"Truth's stranger than fiction, right?" Casey replied.

"Yeah...I suppose so," Kelly answered. "But why didn't you want anyone at 51 to know about it?"

"Come on, Kelly, you know how they are, _any_ non-life threatening injury is fair game for their jokes, and I just wasn't in the mood," Casey told him.

Kelly thought about it and responded, "Guess I can't blame you for that."

"So, uh...that rain check you were talking about, the offer still good?" Casey inquired.

Kelly grinned, "Yeah, sure, after next shift good?"

"My schedule's clear," Casey answered.

"Glad to hear it. You sure you're okay?"

Casey nodded, "Gonna be black and blue for a couple weeks but yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure?" Kelly asked.

Casey offered a small smile and answered. "I am now."


End file.
